Living A Ghastly Existence

July 14, 1999|By Michael Hanchard. Michael Hanchard is associate professor of political science and African-American studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of "Orpheus and Power," a study of racial inequality in Brazil, and a forthcoming comparative study of transnational black politics in Ghana, Jamaica and the United States.

The murder of former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong by avowed white supremacist Benjamin Smith shocked, angered and saddened many people in the Chicago area and across the country. Smith's murder of Byrdsong and Korean-American Won-Joon Yoon and his shooting of nine other minority individuals, brought home the reality of racially motivated violence. Paradoxically, such violence is both premeditated and indiscriminate. How else do we explain the seemingly random murder of someone such as Byrdsong who, by all accounts, motivated and nurtured many people with his warmth and generosity--regardless of skin color--during his all-too-short life?

Perhaps Rick Taylor, athletic director of Northwestern University, succinctly characterized the reason why Ricky Byrdsong is no longer with us: "Because he was a black man walking the streets of Chicago." Taylor, who is white, conveys a perception held by many--both white and non-white--that racial violence is increasing but, more disturbingly, is ignored by the bulk of the American public. Taylor's comments suggest at least two things. First, while black men often are depicted as the most dangerous members of our national community, they are, in fact, among the most vulnerable. More broadly, Taylor's words also suggest a climate of disdain, which many non-whites experience on the streets of Chicago and elsewhere in the United States. From poor service and excessive surveillance in restaurants, hotels and stores to aggressive arrests by police officers, Benjamin Smith's shootings represent the most dramatic--but not the sole--evidence of this climate of disdain.

Obscured by the media preoccupation with the easy imagery of a crazed, lone gunman who engaged in a killing spree is the fate of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999, first presented before the House in March. A similar bill also was introduced in the Senate in March. Benjamin Smith's rampage, and the institutions and organizations which support and condone such behavior, provide the clearest evidence of the need for such legislation.

It is a perverse irony that the murder of a prominent black man in a Chicago suburb might finally awaken many whites in this city and elsewhere to a reality many non-whites have long known, that racist violence is not limited to a particular part of town or segment of the population but is part of a national pathology that sneaks up on us in the mall, the local grocery and, in Ricky Byrdsong's case, in front of two of his children on a neighbor's lawn. Without firm sanctions against the violent manifestations of this pathology, black, Asian, Jewish and other minority groups will be burying more of their children. Minority perceptions of indifference among the larger populace will be confirmed by a government that does not take measures to protect its most vulnerable citizens.